Community-building initiatives co-developed for racially marginalised PGRs: Facilitating engagement

Background: While postgraduate research can be a highly rewarding experience, universities are increasingly aware that many racially marginalised prospective students fear they will not be welcomed, and many existing PGRs struggle to find spaces where they feel they belong. In 2021 Bristol Doctoral College (BDC) launched the Be More Empowered For Success PGR programme. This programme seeks to influence positive change for home racially marginalised postgraduate researchers (PGRs). An undergraduate Be More Empowered For Success initiative has been in place since 2019.

Programme overview: Alongside staff members in the BDC, the programme is collaboratively run with a small cohort of existing PGRs (Advocates), who bring lived experience combined with practical experience of equity, diversity and inclusion work in HE settings. As the programme has developed, increasing focus has been placed on supporting home students (whose academic journey thus far we recognise may have involved disproportionate exposure to social injustices specific to growing up in a UK context). Two key areas of focus for the programme are: (1) Belonging: supporting community building through social activities, and (2) Empowerment: promoting opportunities for skills/​professional development. The programme hosted 8 events conceived by the PGR Advocates in 2021/2022 and 13 events in 2022/2023.

We will facilitate discussion around the following questions, to generate insight for our own programme, and inform thinking for others developing similar initiatives:
- How should new programmes build awareness among beneficiaries within institutions?
- What strategies should universities use to incentivise participation in new programmes among racially marginalised PGRs?
- How should we measure the success and impact of community-building initiatives?

* While language is not the critical focus of this session, we recognise the complexity, imperfection and need for ongoing discussion around how we talk about race and ethnicity. We are committed to an ongoing process of learning.